New Jersey Bill Seeks to Reinstate Ladies' Nights
A proposed New Jersey bill would authorize local businesses to offer ladies' night specials and promotions--which were ruled a violation of the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination in 2004 in a ruling by the state Division on Civil Rights. The hoopla started over a cover charge that a man had to pay at a local bar on a night when women were being admitted in for free.
The complaint made it's way to the state Division on Civil Rights--which ruled in 2004 that ladies' night promotions violated the state's Law Against Discrimination. Though ladies' nights are still illegal in New Jersey, there have been no reported ladies' night lawsuits from the Attorney General's office.
The bill to legalize ladies' nights is in the New Jersey Senate Judiciary Committee, sponsored by the Senate Minority Leader Tom Kean Jr. (R., Union). Following the decision in 2004 a bill was unanimously passed in the State Assembly, but did not survive the Senate vote.
The New Jersey case is not the only one of it its kind. In 2007 a man sued multiple New York City nightclubs claiming discrimination for ladies' night promotions. The case was rejected by a federal court judge the following year. However, the issue has also been taken up in similar cases in California and Colorado where state-level courts have found the practice unconstitutional.
Related Resources:
- N.J. bill would authorize ladies' nights (The Philadelphia Inquirer)
- 'Ladies' NIght' Lawsuits on the Rocks? (ABC News)
- The End of "Ladies' Night" in New Jersey: A Controversial Ruling Deems the Practice Sex Discrimination Against Men (FindLaw Writ)
- Men's rights advocate (MankatoFreePress.com)
- Gender Discrimination in the Workplace (provided by Ogg Cordes Murphy & Ignelzi LLP)
- Discrimination Resource Links (provided by Furtado Jaspovice & Simons LC)